


new world coming.

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, M/M, but other than that the plot is entirely different, character/ship tags will be added as we go along, i watched maleficent and stole the fairy design & the idea of the moors/enchanted forest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-28 22:18:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18765388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It wasn’t that The Moors weren’t beautiful, because, by the Gods, they were. Grass that never lost its color, not even in the Wintertime, creatures of all shapes, sizes, colors and creeds everywhere, coexisting in harmony. No need for a King or a Queen, for everyone trusted one another. It was what one might be tempted to call paradise.But all Thor’s life, he’d longed to see past the thick barricade of thorns that reached sky high, hiding The Moors from the outside world. His mother had always forbidden him, and even after she passed, so too did the elders around him, though he could never quite grasp why.It wasn’t until he was fourteen that he would first see what was beyond that wall.





	1. prologue.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [havishxm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/havishxm/gifts).



Ever since Thor was little, he’d wanted to see the outside.  
Beyond the walls of thorns, where the skies were tinted a slightly darker shade of gray, and where - well, he didn’t actually know. And that was the issue.

It wasn’t that The Moors weren’t beautiful, because, by the Gods, they were. Grass that never lost its color, not even in the Wintertime, creatures of all shapes, sizes, colors and creeds everywhere, coexisting in harmony. No need for a King or a Queen, for everyone trusted one another. It was what one might be tempted to call paradise.

But all Thor’s life, he’d longed to see past the thick barricade of thorns that reached sky high, hiding The Moors from the outside world. His mother had always forbidden him, and even after she passed, so too did the elders around him, though he could never quite grasp why.  
It wasn’t until he was fourteen that he would first see what was beyond that wall.

It had been a night like any other, the rainbow lights of the ever glowing flora glistening off the water of the lake, crystal clear as it always was.  
“Thor!” Thor groaned, but didn’t move, comfortable on the branch he’d chosen to settle on for the night. Just as he began to drift off again, something began poking at his side. “ _Thor!_ ”  
“What?” He opened his eyes to find his little brother floating by him, black wings extended and goofy grin on his face.   
“Can we go flying? Please?” Ever since Loki’s wings had grown sturdy enough to carry him through the air, it was all he’d wanted to do. As much as Thor wanted to say no, bugger off, let me sleep, he couldn't. His brother’s excitement was so pure and sweet that he couldn’t bring himself to crush it.  
“Fine.”   
Thor sat up on the branch, his wings unfurling into a beautiful mass of golden feathers behind him, and he slid off the tree into the evening air. 

Taking Loki’s hand into his own, his wings flapped and set them off into the air, Loki releasing his hand once they gained speed and his own wings stabilized.  
There was nothing like it, flying, the way their laughter echoed off into the night, the only other sound being the leaves rustling in the wind. Thor’s wings wrapped around his body as he spun, diving almost to the lake beneath, before they extended again, allowing him to glide over the water, Loki following behind with an obnoxiously loud laugh. 

“Last one to the clouds is a Human!” Loki called out, suddenly changing course and soaring upwards at a breakneck speed. Thor called out after him, accusing him of being a cheat - but hey, he was racing Loki, what more could he expect from the most mischievous nine year old ever to live?  
He followed his brother upward, catching up quickly without much hassle, because while Loki had had a head start, Thor’s wings were bigger, more powerful. 

They continued up, up, up, Thor slowing down occasionally so as to allow his brother to take over, letting him feel good about himself.

“Thor!” 

Loki’s voice had turned wobbly, scared, and his laughter had turned to screams. Thor’s head turned instantly, and he stopped mid-air to see his brother’s wings beginning to falter, unable to handle the high altitude.   
Before Thor even had the chance to do anything, Loki was plummeting to the ground, flapping his wings as best he could in attempt to fly forward just a little.  
Unknowingly toward the  _ other side  _ of the wall, where he landed with a horrible crash, wings bent at awful angles and grazed badly, visible even from Thor’s distance.

Thor glanced from the wall of thorns to Loki, stomach in knots. He knew he should go get someone older, someone stronger, but if whatever was on the other side of that wall was really so bad, there was no way he was going to leave his little brother alone there. Surely it wouldn't be too hard, just fly down, make sure he was okay, and help him fly back over.  
As soon as he unfroze, the shock of the situation wearing off, he flew to the ground beyond the thorns for the first time in his young life, feet coming to land on grass that was far less vibrant than that of his own home.

_ Everything  _ was less vibrant on this side of the wall.

He wanted to take it all in, wanted to explore, or at least get a sense of where he was, but all he could focus on was Loki.   
“Are you alright, brother?”  
The scathing glare he received was answer enough.    
“Come on, it’s alright, it’s okay.” He leant down, smoothing out the crumpled feathers of Loki’s wings as best he could without causing unnecessary pain, though it was easy to tell he would not be flying for some time. 

“Don't touch me!” Loki insisted, but Thor ignored it, not taking it too personally, because he knew what he was doing was more than likely hurting Loki's wings.   
For the next few minutes, Thor continued tending to Loki’s wings, ignoring the cursing coming from his little brother’s mouth (and really, how did a nine year old even  _ know  _ words like that, anyway?). 

Something moved in the trees behind them, the sound of rustling giving whatever it was away, and causing Thor’s heartbeat to quicken. In a move of desperation, he attempted to pick Loki up, but it was to no avail. Though he was on the stronger side of the fairies, he was still barely a teenager, and Loki’s wings didn’t make him any lighter.   
The wall looked so tall from the ground, and Thor knew that even if he managed, somehow, to pick Loki up, his wings wouldn’t be able to support the both of them long enough to reach the top again. 

“I have to go get help.”

The anger in Loki’s eyes melted away to fear, and he began to protest, hand gripping Thor’s wrist as tightly as a nine year old could.   
“Don’t go anywhere, please don’t go anywhere.”

“Okay, alright, I won’t leave you. I’m here, I’ll stay.”   
The very words tasted bitter in his mouth - for every one of them was a lie. There was no possible way he could carry Loki back over the wall this way. If it was just him, perhaps, but now that his wings had sprouted, it would be impossible.

He resigned himself to rubbing gently at his brother’s forehead and waiting for him to fall asleep, before taking flight, up and over the barricade, in search of someone more capable. 

By the time he returned, Loki was gone.


	2. chapter one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> originally this & the next chapter were just one Long chapter but it didn't flow well that way, so i divided them into two instead.

Loki awoke to find Thor gone, and he could see nothing but the stars in the sky, feel nothing but the painful throbbing of his wings, just as bad, if not worse, than before.   
Eventually, it might have been seconds or minutes or hours later, he managed to pull himself back up to sit, and turned himself around to look up at the apparently impenetrable barricade of thorns, the height of which was almost enough to make him cry. Almost.  
Though the searing pain in his wings and down his back was one of the worst things Loki had experienced in his nine young years, it was nothing compared to the feeling that came with the realization that Thor had left. He’d just abandoned Loki after promising he wouldn’t.

Some brother.

He tried to flap his wings, but it was useless, a sharp jolt of pain shooting down his back as a sickening crack sounded out. He screamed, loud and piercing, it was as though someone had just broken every bone in his back all at once, and his scream seemed all the louder for filling the otherwise entirely dead silence of the woods.  
The next thing Loki knew, his body gave out from the sheer intensity of the pain and hit the grass with a _thud_ , just before something began rustling in the trees nearby. Panic washed over him, the Gods only know what sort of monsters his screaming could’ve attracted. 

In a moment of sheer desperation, he dug his fingers into the soil, dragging himself along the ground until he was hidden between the trees, ignoring the way his back and wings ached and the way his body hurt from being pulled over pebbles. All he cared about then was not being seen. He had no clue where he was, or what dangers were all around him now that he was outside the safety of The Moors, but from the rumors and warnings he’d heard day in and day out, he didn’t want to know. 

The rustling became footsteps, and Loki’s rapid breathing was loud,  _ too _ loud, because here, in the woods, you could hear a pin drop, and that was the last thing he needed. Reaching up as high as he could reach, Loki blindly dug his nails into the bark of one of the tree trunks nearest him, grasping so tight he was sure his fingertips would be dripping with blood, and pulled himself up off the ground, ignoring the way it sent jolts of pain down his spine.  
He took an experimental step, and though he was a little wobbly on his feet, due to the way his broken wings were putting off his balance, walking wasn’t out of the question, so he did.  
One step at a time, slowly, carefully so as not to make a sound, he began to walk away as the sound of footsteps drew closer. 

Once he was sure he was out of sight and earshot of whoever - or whatever - it was, he broke into a run. Every time his feet would collide with the ground, he felt his entire body tense up, felt the pain flare, but all he could do was pray his body would hold out long enough to get him out, that he was strong enough to carry his currently useless wings on his back just a little while longer.  
But to get him out to  _ where _ , Loki had no idea. All he knew was that being backed up against the thorns out in the open, helpless and in pain wasn’t a good idea. He just needed to find somewhere safe to rest, just somewhere safe to sleep through the night and allow his wings the time they needed to heal. 

Unfortunately, his body was far too ahead of him when it came to rest, and as the pain became too much to bear, his legs gave out, and he fell to the ground, fighting with everything in him to stay awake. He wasn’t safe, was too exposed in the middle of the woods, even if he had successfully evaded being seen by whatever had been making noise before.

But it was no longer his choice, and he soon fell unconscious where he lay, the blackness of his wings offering something akin to a camouflage in the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i swear this is a thorbruce centric fic!! bruce will show his lovely face next chapter! dont throw things at me for the long ass setup!!


	3. chapter two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bruce banner is so gentle i love him  
> also this is entirely unbeta-ed and unedited because i am out of control

The next time Loki awoke, it was ever so slightly lighter out, and it appeared that he had only come to because something was standing over him, shaking him ever so slightly. Whatever it was retracted its hand as soon as it noticed him wake, and he sat up, wrapping his arms around his knees as though that would keep him safe from anything at all. Really, it just made him look like a frightened child.

“Who are you?”   
Loki’s voice was uncharacteristically timid, and his broken wings wrapped themselves defensively around his small body as best they could, as he eyed up the strange thing - it looked to be a wingless fairy. Perhaps it was a Human? Loki couldn’t be sure, he had never seen one.  
“Bruce.” It stated, voice soft, crouching down so the two of them were at eye level. “I won’t hurt you. You’re safe, I’m not going to hurt you.” It assured him, but Loki’s wings did not unfurl. For all he knew, this was what he had been warned about by his mother and the others.

When Loki stayed silent for a good few more minutes, Bruce spoke up once more.    
“Why are you out here?”  
“Fell.” His voice was still timid, though he tried his best to sound cold and snippy. Which, really, is a difficult thing to do when you are nine years old, terrified and alone in the one place you have always been told is dangerous.

It -  _ Bruce -  _ seemed confused, and Loki briefly wondered if he was as strange to this creature as it was to him. It seemed to bare no ill will toward him, but he couldn’t be sure.  
“Are you alone?” Bruce asked, and Loki’s racing heart began to slow to a normal rate as his eyes began to adjust properly to the dark, Bruce seemed gentle, and looked to be quite thin. Probably couldn’t hurt him.  
Loki nodded, slowly, hesitantly.   
“Can you walk?”   
Hands gripping the grass, Loki managed to push himself to his feet, though a little wobbly for his wings were still bent off balance, though not to the extreme that they had been. Bruce extended a hand, slowly, as one would toward a frightened animal. Loki stared for a moment, but ultimately, it was trust Bruce or sit in the forest alone until his wings healed enough for him to fly again, and whatever came along next might not be as gentle as Bruce seemed to be.

His wings unfurled, and an unidentifiable expression crossed Bruce’s eyes. Slowly, Loki rested his small hand in Bruce’s larger one, and took a few slow steps. Walking was still difficult, but nowhere near as painful as it was before.  
“Come with me.”  
Clearly, Loki was hesitant. He knew it showed on his face.   
“I’ll help you. It’s not safe out here. I won’t hurt you.”   
He had no reason to trust Bruce, but Thor had abandoned him. Thor had left him, alone, with broken wings in the middle of what looked to be a forest. And there was just something about Bruce that was trustworthy. Maybe it was the softness with which he spoke, or maybe it was just the fact that Loki was desperate for a safe haven.   
Whatever it was, it was convincing enough for Loki. He took Bruce’s hand, and allowed himself to be led out of the forest.

Bruce had never seen anything like this. It was a human with  _ wings _ . Was it even a human? Sure, there had been legends of what lay beyond the wall of thorns that blocked off whatever was past the end of the forest, but he had never  _ believed  _ any of them.  
Until now, of course. He would be stupid not to, given there was  _ literal evidence  _ right in front of him. But that brought a new question forth -  _ why?  _ Even if this creature, this  _ boy  _ did live on the other side of the forest, that didn’t offer any sort of explanation as to why he was here.   
He shook those questions out of his mind -  they could be asked later. Right now, he needed to attend to the child(?)’s wounds, whatever they were.    
He’d never been more thankful for his father’s constant disappearance, because the very idea of what the man would say to a fantastical creature sitting in his living room was enough to send shivers down Bruce’s spine.

He led the child through to his home, taking him down to the basement.  
It wasn’t perfect, the wood floors would creak and dust flew off almost any surface that was touched, but there was a spare mattress and a dimmable light, and on the off chance his father did come home, all he would likely do was eat, sleep, and head off for another shift.  He hadn’t been in the basement for years, so it was a pretty safe bet.

The kid still didn’t seem to trust him, though, because the moment they were in the basement, he moved as far away from Bruce as he could, moving to sit on the mattress in the corner, wings curling around him protectively once more.   
Bruce wondered if he was doing that on purpose, or if the wings had more of a mind of their own. He would ask, maybe, when there was a little more trust between them.  
“Do you have a name?” He asked, voice barely audible, not wanting to scare him off.  
For a good moment or so, it seemed like he wouldn’t receive a response, but eventually, the boy spoke up.  
“Loki.”  
Bruce smiled, maintaining his distance on the other side of the room. He would only move closer when he knew it was okay.  
“Loki. Like the Norse God, that’s cool.”

The kid -  _ Loki  _ \- just looked confused, and so Bruce shook his head. Maybe there were some cultural differences. He supposed he should’ve thought of that. “Nevermind. Would you like something to drink, or?”  
Loki shook his head, quietly, and Bruce was at a loss. He had no idea how to get the poor kid back over the thorn wall (presuming that was where he even came from), and he knew the boy didn’t trust him anywhere near enough to let him take a look at his wings. Even then, he was still just a fifteen year old who had no idea what he would actually be able to do to help a case of  _ broken wings  _ even if he  _ was _  allowed to get a closer look.

The only thing convincing him he’d made the right choice was the thought of what might’ve happened if it had been anyone other than him who stumbled across Loki in the woods.  
As horrifying as the idea was, there were probably people out there who’d want to do far worse things to the winged boy than help him.

“Okay.” Maybe the best thing to do was give him time, let him come to the conclusion he was safe on his own. “Well, let me know if you change your mind.”   
With that, Bruce turned to leave Loki to his peace and quiet. He was stopped halfway up the stairs, by a voice barely above a whisper.   
“Thanks.”   
Bruce turned around to offer Loki a gentle smile, before continuing up the stairs, dimming the lights as he left.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me to update on twitter (@thcrsbruce) or tumblr (caspeter.tumblr.com)!  
> dont actually yell at me though i am soft and i will cry if you do


End file.
